BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
weakest members of society. In his Gospel, Matthew writes that Jesus
taught people to 'Love God and their neighbours. "(Mat 22:33-28). In
essence, says Jesus, true spirituality is all about love. Intimacy with God
leads to involvement in his world. Expressed above is the whole faith of
Israel: the most intimate revelation of how politics and religion relates in
the Bible. I would argue that if we are serious about loving God and our
neighbours, it makes sense to get involved in the institutions that have
the greatest impact on the lives of our neighbours - especially the most
disadvantaged and vulnerable. Politics is one way to do that. According
to Henderson, Charles (2010), the importance of political activism by
individual Christians is therefore clear right at the start of the biblical
narrative. Any politics that takes the Bible seriously must begin with the
account of creation in the book of (Gen 1:26, 28). The 'image of God'
status enjoyed by human beings confers on them some special privileges
and responsibilities, some of which are political because, God created
the world 'good' and his intention is that human beings should rule it
accordingly. Genesis further assigns to humanity the task of caretaker or
“steward” of creation which God calls “good.” From a biblical perspec-
tive all people are created as equal in God’s image. Further, the biblical
mandate that humanity act as steward and caretaker of all creation sug-
gests that government has a more positive political role to play in pro-
tecting all God’s creation. In 1 Tim 2:1-4 the apostle Paul instructs his
readers to pray for all people in positions of authority. Prayer is an im-
portant aspect of political activism. The fact that God created human
beings to rule over planet Earth and exercise good governance indeed
suggests that there is a relationship between word of God portrayed in
the Bible and Politics (Woolley, 2005). To love your neighbours as in-
structed in the Bible by God compels us to take certain political actions
and decisions. In the Old Testament law the Israelites are commanded
not to rule "ruthlessly" but to "fear God as the fear of the LORD is the
beginning of knowledge." (Lev 25:43; Prov 1:7). Thus, human govern-
ment is a divine institution given by God after the flood (Gen 9) to as-
sure order and prevent anarchy (see Judges 17:6).”If one were to con-
struct contemporary politics based upon core principles of the Bible, it
becomes clear that it has a lot to say about the relationship between the
two. Whereas the New Testament at times provides a picture of believers
uninvolved in the government of Imperial Rome, this reluctance to
bring faith into politics bring a trap of complete separation between God
and the world he created and loved so dearly. Infact, one of the core